US attorney general Merrick Garland announced on Thursday that the Department of Justice has arrested 21-year old Jack Teixeira, a suspect in the recent leaks of US intelligence online.
The arrest was made “in connection with an investigation into an alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information,” said Garland.
“Teixeira is an employee of the United States Air Force National Guard. FBI agents took Teixeira into custody this afternoon without incident. He will have an initial appearance at the US District Court of the district of Massachusetts,” he added, thanking the FBI and the DOJ for their “diligent work on this case.”
Garland said the investigation remains ongoing.
Several of Teixeira’s family members serve in the military, the New York Times reports, and the 21-year-old airman joined straight after highschool, in 2021. The paper has painted this portrait of the person suspected of leaking US intelligence documents online:
While talking with friends online, Jack Teixeira…assumed the role of a leader.
He guided a group of 20 to 30 people, mostly young men and teenagers, as they bonded over guns, racist memes, video games and international politics.
…
His friends in the online group, a Discord channel named Thug Shaker Central, said in interviews that it was a place that brought together lonely people during the pandemic. Sometimes, when they played war-themed video games, Airman Teixeira wanted to teach his friends about actual war, they said.
Here is an image of his arrest earlier today:
Hi, this is Helen Sullivan taking over our live coverage of the arrest of Jack Teixeira, a suspect in the recent leaks of US intelligence online.
If you have questions, comments or see news you may have missed, drop me a line on Twitter here.
It is slightly past 5:30pm in Washington DC and 12:30pm Kyiv. Here are the day’s key developments so far:
US attorney general Merrick Garland announced on Thursday that the Department of Justice has arrested 21-year old Jack Teixeira, a suspect in the recent leaks of US intelligence online. The arrest was made “in connection with an investigation into an alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information,” said Garland.
During a press briefing on Thursday, Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder said that the leak of classified information was a “deliberate, criminal act.” He added that the Pentagon had taken measures to review distribution lists and make sure that individuals who receive information had a need to know, the Associated Press reports.
UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi warned on Thursday that “we are living on borrowed time” following two recent landmine explosions near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly expressed fears over the safety of the plant, which is Europe’s largest atomic power station.
Ukraine’s armed forces have said Russian troops are attempting to surround the embattled city of Bakhmut from the north and the south. “Every day in Bakhmut area, the enemy makes 40 to 50 offensive and assault attempts, launches more than 500 strikes using the entire range of available weapons,” said Brig Gen Oleksiy Hromov, deputy chief of the Ukrainian armed forces general staff’s main operational department.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed its troops had already surrounded Bakhmut, but Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, said it was “too early” to say. Prigozhin, whose forces have spearheaded much of the fighting for the embattled city, was responding to a statement by the Russian defence ministry that said Moscow’s forces were “blocking” Ukrainian forces from getting in or out of Bakhmut.
Serbia never sold weapons or ammunition to Ukraine or Russia, president Aleksandar Vučić has insisted, following a leaked secret Pentagon report that said Serbia had pledged to send arms to Kyiv or had sent them already. Vučić said he was “quite certain” that Serbian ammunition would appear “on one side or the other in the battlefield” in Ukraine, after having been exported to Turkey, Spain or the Czech Republic.
Russia’s prosecutor general said it had opened an investigation into a video showing Russian soldiers apparently beheading a Ukrainian prisoner of war lying on the ground. It comes a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged international leaders to act, saying the world could not ignore the “evil” footage, which circulated on Telegram, Twitter and other social media channels, causing revulsion among Ukrainians.Energoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear power company, has claimed that a Russian mine exploded near one of the reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP). Europe’s largest nuclear power station has been occupied by Russian forces since March 2022, with both Ukraine and Russia claiming that the other side has shelled the plant, risking a nuclear incident.
Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, has a mystery ailment in jail that could be some sort of slow-acting poison, and has lost 8kg in weight in just over two weeks, his spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, has said. “We do not exclude that at this very time Alexei Navalny is being slowly poisoned, being killed slowly so that it attracts less attention,” Yarmysh said in a post on Twitter. “He is being held in a punishment cell with acute pain without medical help,” she said.
A congratulatory post by the 102nd Intelligence Wing about 21-year old Jack Teixeira last July is still currently up on its Facebook page.
“Congratulations to some of the 102nd Intelligence Wing’s most recent promotees! Way to go!!” the post said, with Jack Teixeira’s name included on the post.
UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi warned on Thursday that “we are living on borrowed time” following two recent landmine explosions near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant.
Agence France-Presse reports:
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly expressed fears over the safety of the plant, which is Europe’s largest atomic power station.
Russian forces took control of the six-reactor plant in embattled southern Ukraine in March last year.
“We are living on borrowed time when it comes to nuclear safety and security at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant,” Grossi said in a statement.
“Unless we take action to protect the plant, our luck will sooner or later run out, with potentially severe consequences for human health and the environment,” he added.
Two landmine explosions occurred outside the plant’s perimeter fence - the first on 8 April, and another four days later, according to the statement.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blasts, it said.
US attorney general Merrick Garland announced on Thursday that the Department of Justice has arrested 21-year old Jack Teixeira, a suspect in the recent leaks of US intelligence online.
The arrest was made “in connection with an investigation into an alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information,” said Garland.
“Teixeira is an employee of the United States Air Force National Guard. FBI agents took Teixeira into custody this afternoon without incident. He will have an initial appearance at the US District Court of the district of Massachusetts,” he added, thanking the FBI and the DOJ for their “diligent work on this case.”
Garland said the investigation remains ongoing.
During a press briefing on Thursday, Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder said that the leak of classified information was a “deliberate, criminal act.”
He added that the Pentagon had taken measures to review distribution lists and make sure that individuals who receive information had a need to know, the Associated Press reports.
The FBI said on Thursday it has “made an arrest and is continuing to conduct authorized law enforcement activity at a residence in North Dighton, Massachusetts,” amid reports that a suspect in the leak of classified information has been identified.
The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, will make a statement on the situation at 2.30pm, Reuters reports.
Aerial footage released by Sky 5 shows a young man being arrested by a handful of federal agents. The young man can be seen with his hands on his head, clad in a T-shirt and shorts.
“This is not just about the Department of Defense. This is about the US government…and how we protect and safeguard information,” said Ryder.
“We do have strict protocols in place… Anytime there is an incident…an opportunity to refine it, we are of course going to take advantage of that,” he added.
“We continue to work around the clock along with the inter-agency and intelligence community to understand the scope, scale and impact of these leaks,” Pentagon press secretary Patrick Ryder said in a press briefing on Thursday regarding the recent leaks of US intelligence online.
“We will be limited in what we can say about the documents themselves … As a matter of longstanding policy, just because classified information may be posted online and elsewhere does not mean it has been declassified by classification authority,” added Ryder.
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
The FBI wants to question a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard in connection with the leak of highly classified military documents on the Ukraine war, according to a report. The guardsman has been identified by the New York Times as 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, who reportedly oversaw an online group where about 20 to 30 people shared their love of guns, racist memes and video games.
Ukraine’s armed forces have said Russian troops are attempting to surround the embattled city of Bakhmut from the north and the south. “Every day in Bakhmut area, the enemy makes 40 to 50 offensive and assault attempts, launches more than 500 strikes using the entire range of available weapons,” said Brig Gen Oleksiy Hromov, deputy chief of the Ukrainian armed forces general staff’s main operational department.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed its troops had already surrounded Bakhmut, but Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, said it was “too early” to say. Prigozhin, whose forces have spearheaded much of the fighting for the embattled city, was responding to a statement by the Russian defence ministry that said Moscow’s forces were “blocking” Ukrainian forces from getting in or out of Bakhmut.
Germany has approved a request by Poland to export five old German MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, officials in Berlin have said.
The Kremlin has denied a report that Vladimir Putin personally approved the arrest of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter imprisoned in Russia. According to a Bloomberg report, which cited unnamed sources, the Russian president had personally endorsed Gershkovich’s arrest for espionage. Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, has suggested Moscow may be willing to discuss a potential prisoner swap for Gershkovich after his trial.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has said his country would not change its demand that Russia must withdraw its forces from all of Ukraine – including Crimea. Kyiv “categorically disagrees” with the idea that “Crimea is somehow special and should not be returned to Ukraine, as any other part of our territory”, Kuleba said in an address to the Black Sea security conference.
Two civilians have been killed and two others were wounded by Russian artillery and aerial attacks in Kherson region in southern Ukraine, the local governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said.
Norway’s foreign ministry has said it has decided to expel 15 Russian embassy officials in Oslo. The Russians declared persona non grata are “not regular diplomats, but intelligence officers under diplomatic cover. Their activities are a threat to Norwegian interests,” Norwegian foreign minister Anniken Huitfeldt said. Russia’s foreign ministry said it would respond to Norway’s expulsion of its 15 diplomats.
Swedish prosecutors said they had charged a 52-year-old man with illegally possessing and spreading secret and sensitive information about a large number of military installations. “I consider this a gross crime as it concerns a large number of installations that are significant for Sweden’s ability to defend itself in the case of war,” senior prosecutor Lars Hedvall said in a statement.
Serbia never sold weapons or ammunition to Ukraine or Russia, president Aleksandar Vučić has insisted, following a leaked secret Pentagon report that said Serbia had pledged to send arms to Kyiv or had sent them already. Vučić said he was “quite certain” that Serbian ammunition would appear “on one side or the other in the battlefield” in Ukraine, after having been exported to Turkey, Spain or the Czech Republic.
Russia’s prosecutor general said it had opened an investigation into a video showing Russian soldiers apparently beheading a Ukrainian prisoner of war lying on the ground. It comes a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged international leaders to act, saying the world could not ignore the “evil” footage, which circulated on Telegram, Twitter and other social media channels, causing revulsion among Ukrainians.
Authorities are working to identify the identity of a Ukrainian prisoner of war whose beheading video emerged on Wednesday, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said. The Guardian has not independently verified the origins and veracity of the two videos, but Ukrainian authorities are treating them as genuine.
Energoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear power company, has claimed that a Russian mine exploded near one of the reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP). Europe’s largest nuclear power station has been occupied by Russian forces since March 2022, with both Ukraine and Russia claiming that the other side has shelled the plant, risking a nuclear incident.
Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, has a mystery ailment in jail that could be some sort of slow-acting poison, and has lost 8kg in weight in just over two weeks, his spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, has said. “We do not exclude that at this very time Alexei Navalny is being slowly poisoned, being killed slowly so that it attracts less attention,” Yarmysh said in a post on Twitter. “He is being held in a punishment cell with acute pain without medical help,” she said.
Key members of a Ukrainian state orchestra were refused visas to play a series of concerts in the UK this month in a “catastrophe” that the promoter says cost it more than €100,000 (£88,000).
Romania, Moldova and Ukraine have signed cooperation agreements after a trilateral meeting on ways to strengthen security in their Black Sea region to counter threats posed by Russia’s aggression.
The three neighbouring countries’ foreign and defence ministers, government officials and international partners gathered today in Romania’s capital, Bucharest, for the Black Sea Security Conference. The aim was to address the wide-ranging impact that Moscow’s war in Ukraine on the region, AP reported.
Russia was “the most direct and serious threat” to the Black Sea region and Nato, Romania’s foreign minister, Bogdan Aurescu, said. Calling for a strong Nato presence in the region, he said:
Instead of peace and stability, the Black Sea region has become the primary target of the Russian aggression.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who addressed the conference via videolink, also said the Nato military alliance should play a bigger role in security in the Black Sea, and integrate Ukraine’s air and missile defences with those of Nato members.
Kuleba, referring to Finland’s recent admission to the alliance, said:
It’s time to turn the Black Sea into what the Baltic Sea has become, a sea of Nato.
Serbia never sold weapons or ammunition to Ukraine or Russia, president Aleksandar Vučić has insisted, following a leaked secret Pentagon report that said Serbia had pledged to send arms to Kyiv or had sent them already.
Vučić, whose leads one of the most pro-Russian countries in Europe, told reporters:
Serbia has not and will not export weapons to Ukraine.
He added that it equally “has not and will not” export arms or ammunition to Russia, adding: “There’s no document that can prove that.”
The document seen by the Guardian is a roundup of European positions on providing arms and training from early March, titled “Response to Ongoing Russia-Ukraine Conflict”. It gives the “assessed position” of each country with a tick or a cross.
Serbia is assessed to have “provided or committed to provide lethal aid”. It is also reported to have the “military ability” and the “political will” to provide arms in the future.
Vučić said he was “quite certain” that Serbian ammunition would appear “on one side or the other in the battlefield” in Ukraine, after having been exported to Turkey, Spain or the Czech Republic. He said:
They saw one shell (in Ukraine), one bullet. So what, and where else would they appear? There are several war zones around the world.
Serbia’s defence minister, Miloš Vučević, and foreign minister, Ivica Dačić, have also dismissed the contents of the leaked intelligence as untrue.
Serbia is also the only European country to have opposed all sanctions against Russia. Vučić has sought to maintain ties with Moscow and Beijing while seeking not to alienate the US and EU entirely. His government has voted against Russia several times at the UN general assembly over its invasion of Ukraine.
Authorities are working to identify the identity of a Ukrainian prisoner of war whose beheading video emerged on Wednesday, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said.
The disturbing clip appears to show a member of the Russian army using a knife to cut the head off the soldier. It is unclear when or where the video was shot. The video circulated on Telegram, Twitter and other social media channels, causing revulsion among Ukrainians.
The Guardian has not independently verified the origins and veracity of the two videos, but Ukrainian authorities are treating them as genuine.
Maliar, during a briefing today, said:
All cases and videos that appear in the public domain are being investigated, and this is being done by all law enforcement agencies together, who have the technical capabilities and relevant specialists and experts.
A member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard suspected of leaking highly classified US intelligence documents will be arrested today in Massachusetts, Reuters is reporting, citing a source familiar with the situation.
The FBI wants to question a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard in connection with the disclosure of classified military documents, AP is citing two people familiar with the matter.
As we reported earlier, the New York Times has named Jack Teixeira, 21, as the leader of the online group where the secret documents were posted.
The leader of a small online gaming chat group where secret US intelligence documents were leaked is a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman, the New York Times is reporting, citing interviews and documents it reviewed.
The suspected leaker is Jack Teixeira, 21, who oversaw Thug Shaker Central, an online group where about 20 to 30 people shared their love of guns, racist memes and video games, the Times said.
Ukraine’s armed forces have said Russian troops are attempting to surround Bakhmut from the north and the south, while Russia’s defence ministry claimed its troops had already surrounded the embattled city in eastern Ukraine.
The Bakhmut area remains the most difficult as Russian forces continue “offensive actions in the central part of Bakhmut, as well as in the directions of Bohdanivka and Ivanivske to surround the city from the north and south”, Brig Gen Oleksiy Hromov, deputy chief of the Ukrainian armed forces general staff’s main operational department, was quoted by Ukrinform as saying at a briefing on Thursday.
He added:
Every day in Bakhmut area, the enemy makes 40 to 50 offensive and assault attempts, launches more than 500 strikes using the entire range of available weapons.
He said Russian forces had lost nearly 4,500 Wagner fighters and regular Russian armed forces servicemen who had been killed or wounded in the area of Bakhmut.
The Ukrainian update came Moscow claimed Russian troops were preventing Ukrainian forces from entering or leaving Bakhmut. In a statement published on Thursday, the Russian defence ministry said:
Airborne troops are providing support to advancing assault troops, blocking the transfer of Ukrainian army reserves to the city and the possibility of retreat for enemy units.
Wagner assault units “were continuing high-intensity combat operations to oust the enemy from the central quarters” of Bakhmut, the statement continued.
But the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said it was “too early” to say that Bakhmut was surrounded.
Ukraine has also denied the Russian ministry’s claims. Army spokesperson Sergiy Cherevaty said Ukrainian forces in the wartorn city were still able to “deliver provisions, ammunition, and medicines” and evacuate wounded troops in Bakhmut.
Neither side’s claims have been independently verified.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and his Chinese counterpart, Qin Gang, discussed the Ukraine crisis during a meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, today, the Chinese foreign ministry said.
Qin told Lavrov that there was no “panacea” for resolving the crisis, the ministry said. He added that Beijing will continue to play a constructive role in promoting a political settlement and restarting peace talks, the ministry said.
Two civilians have been killed and two others were wounded by Russian artillery and aerial attacks in Kherson region in southern Ukraine, the local governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said.
Prokudin, in a television broadcast, said:
The army of the Russian Federation hit Zmiivka in Kherson region with guided aerial bombs, they hit a school and … one person was killed and another was wounded.
In addition, a man was killed during the shelling of a park inside Kherson city early in the morning and another person was wounded in a village elsewhere in the region, he said.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMipwFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGVndWFyZGlhbi5jb20vd29ybGQvbGl2ZS8yMDIzL2Fwci8xMy9ydXNzaWEtdWtyYWluZS13YXItbGl2ZS1wZW50YWdvbi1sZWFrZXItcmVwb3J0ZWRseS13b3JrZWQtb24tbWlsaXRhcnktYmFzZS13b3JsZC1iYW5rLXRvLWZ1bmQtdWtyYWluZS1lbmVyZ3ktcmVwYWlyc9IBpwFodHRwczovL2FtcC50aGVndWFyZGlhbi5jb20vd29ybGQvbGl2ZS8yMDIzL2Fwci8xMy9ydXNzaWEtdWtyYWluZS13YXItbGl2ZS1wZW50YWdvbi1sZWFrZXItcmVwb3J0ZWRseS13b3JrZWQtb24tbWlsaXRhcnktYmFzZS13b3JsZC1iYW5rLXRvLWZ1bmQtdWtyYWluZS1lbmVyZ3ktcmVwYWlycw?oc=5
2023-04-13 21:37:21Z
1949014152
